Michael Russo has covered the National Hockey League since 1995. He has covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005, after 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. He uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio and seen weekly on Fox Sports North.

Good afternoon from sunny Vancouver, where the Aeros visit the President’s Trophy winning Canucks tonight.

The four rookie defensemen still include Maxim Noreau and Justin Falk, while Colton Gillies has been rejoined by Carson McMillan. Also, Jed Ortmeyer is currently en route because Cal Clutterbuck is sick with what coach Todd Richards said the team thinks is food poisoning.

--Raffi Torres has been suspended four games for his head shot on Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle. That includes the first two games of the playoffs, which is quite the statement from the NHL. I knew it was something significant because Wild GM Chuck Fletcher was talking to Canucks GM Mike Gillis for an hour when Gillis got the call from the league.

Fletcher left, Gillis animatedly debated for awhile, he got off the phone shaking his head and then went to the locker room to inform coach Alain Vigneault and Torres. Gillis told the media he strongly disagreed with the league’s decision and he thought it was a “hockey play.”

Torres sealed his fate with his quotes after the game, I think. Paraphrasing, he said he knew Eberle was in a vulnerable position, but in this NHL, if he doesn’t finish his check, he doesn’t play in the league. Torres doesn’t seem to have paid attention to what the league is trying to eliminate from its games.

--Tonight, before the game, the Canucks will hold an outdoor special tribute to “Captain Video,” Roger Neilson, the former Canucks coach who helped guide the Canucks to the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals. The Hall of Fame coach of a gazillion teams, including the first-ever coach of Florida, died in 2003 of cancer.

--Also, before the game, the Canucks will be honored by the NHL and presented with the President’s Trophy for having the best record in the NHL.

“I think it’s exciting more for the fans than the guys,” Luongo told me. “We want to stay focused on what we’re here to do. It’s a nice award to get, but we came in to this season determined to win the Stanley Cup. I think the guys in here are proud of what we accomplished during the regular season, but we’re focused on the playoffs.”

I’m sure the Wild will enjoy watching the ceremony.

Luongo, by the way, has asked the coaching staff to allow backup Cory Schneider a chance to share the Jennings Trophy for lowest goals against. Schneider played 29 seconds the other night and will close the season Saturday in Calgary to get to the minimum 25 games to share the trophy.

Nice gesture from Luongo.

--I’m writing about Andrew Brunette for tomorrow’s paper. These could be his last three games in a Wild uniform. I also have an interesting story on an injury Eric Nystrom’s been playing with since December (broken cheekbone). He’s kept it quiet for awhile but finally gave me permission to write about it. The quotes are real good, too, so I’ll be writing about it in the next few days.

Also, on Monday, the league will be running a fan contest on NHL.com to pick the top playoffs moment of all-time. It will be conducted in a bracket format, complete with seedings and regions. Some media members, including myself, has been invited to take part. The video gallery is pretty awesome.

So check that out Monday.

--Also, on April 16, the second annual Minnesota MPS Cup with the Minnesota NHL Alumni will be taking place.

MPS diseases are rare, devastating, incurable genetic diseases-mostly affecting children. Last year, over $25,000 was raised from this event for the National MPS Society.

This year's NHL Alumni include the following:

Don Beaupre

Neal Broten

Tom Chorske

Joe Dziedzic

Gord Hampson

Phil Housley

Dave Jenson

Matt Koalska

Brad Maxwell

Mike McMahon (coach)

Steve Payne (gala only)

Mike Peluso

Jon Rohloff

Todd Rohloff

Jeff Teal

Sean Toomey

Carl Wetzel (coach)

For more information, see their website: www.mpscup.org

--Lastly, it’s with a heavy heart that I send my condolences to the friends and family of E.J. McGuire. E.J. died of cancer this morning at the age of 58. The former coach and scout was VP of the NHL’s Central Scouting Service and was a major information source for many of us in the media when it came to the draft. In fact, with the draft coming to Minnesota, I had reached out to him awhile ago to help me gain a knowledge of the draft-eligible players.

I always respected his passion and expertise anytime he talked to draft. There will be a huge void for many of us at the 2011 draft in Minnesota.

"The National Hockey League was privileged to benefit from EJ's

expertise and enthusiasm, both of which were limitless,” NHL Commissioner